RIO 2016 QUALIFIER: WE’RE READY FOR CONGO – AWONIYI

Nigeria U23 Team, Dream Team 1V would be launching their 2016 Rio Olympic Games campaign at home against Congo, who caused a major upset by getting past Ghana on penalties in the previous round and the Red Devils U-23 will be happy with a draw before hosting their Nigerian counterpart in Pointe-Noire in the return leg.
The clash billed Port Harcourt on Sunday is a must win for coach Samson Siasia tutored team and report from the camp indicates that the technical crew and the players have mapped out strategies to winning the encounter./
Coach Siasia said,‘’ everything has been put in place for the match and we are battle ready. The team spirit in camp is high, although we are not going to underrate the Congolese who are also very strong. The players know what is as take and I want to call on Nigerians to support the team.’’
Also speaking ahead of the Sunday cracker, the Under-23 team striker Taiwo Awoniyi expressed optimism that their Congolese counterparts will not stop their dream of qualifying for the final rounds of their Rio Olympics Games in Brazil.
Awoniyi said the Dream Team VI will go all out to beat the Congolese and make the return leg a mere formality.
‘’The two-legged encounter as far as we are concerned is a must-win game. We have trained to a point where anything short of outright victory is not just acceptable. We would not allow them to spoil our dream of qualifying for the Olympics Games in 2016 in Brazil.
We know they are tough but we shall beat them come Sunday and go to Brazaville to round things a fortnight after. But we need the moral and spiritual support of Nigerians to get the results.”
On the All Africa Games draw that has Nigeria in same group with Senegal, Ghana and Egypt, Awoniyi said that the group is that of death, but that the Dream Team will scale through by picking one of the two group tickets.
He stated that they would play all the teams with respect, but will not be scared by their pedigree.
“We shall be gunning for the gold and we shall face all three countries as if every game is the final”.